“(t)here” is the other side. Or it could as well be this side. Greece or Turkey, Europe or Asia, East or West. No matter where you are, you are always either “here”, or you are always “there”. The only place where this distinction becomes meaningless is at the sea.
This short documentary highlights the link between the two lands, two cultures and two peoples through the eyes of a man who has been connecting them for the past 30 years. The man in between. At the sea, with his ship being the bridge allowing others to cross, to connect and to return. Always going from here to there…

Özge Deniz Özker – Refika

In the village of Adatepe, I encountered a photograph of a woman whose name was claimed to be “Refika”. This documentary is a short journal of my research following in the footsteps of Refika from Adatepe (Turkey) to Mytilene Lesvos (Greece). Adatepe is an old Greek village where Turks and Greeks had lived together before the population exchange of 1921 – 1922. The story about Refika and her alleged lover Nazmi survived to date in a number of different versions. Which version is the authentic one? Is the woman in that photograph really Refika or not? Who writes the history?The final chapter of my journal witnesses how Refika’s story and her supposed picture have been commodified, and become marketing tools for a local brand.

Myrto Papadogeorgou – Alalalalala

“Alalalalala” is a word that belongs to a universal language we all understand.Adonis is Greek and Ali Fuat is Turkish. But this is not the only thing that makes them so disparate.

This short film is based on the fact that people are different because of so many factors other than ethnicity. But nevertheless, even between people so much dissimilar like Adonis and Ali Fuat, there could still exist great, sometimes hidden, but very important common points.

You will explore and look for clues within the images, which will help you figure out the story for yourself. And if you are not in the mood for all that thinking, that’s ok. The film has some good music that you will definitely enjoy.

Firuze Karaoğlu – Roots to the Sounds

An exchange of populations between two countries, which happened decades ago… Did it only result in deporting people from one side of the Aegean to the other? Or dit it also transmit their cultures along the way? If you live in Izmir, or “Smyrni” as some would like call, you might find yourself thinking about such questions more often than others. Just like I do…
If there was a tree, whose roots were grounded in Greece, but has grown its trunk, its branches and leaves in Turkey, which nationality would it have?
Can two musicians from Izmir answer this question?

Alexandra Saliba – Opus 2

Flowery, spicy or fruity? Could a perfume be created that would be unique to the North Aegean Region?
“Opus 2″ follows the journeys of its protagonist, a perfumer from Grasse, in Mytilene and Ayvalık, focusing on his olfactive impressions. As each of his aromatic experiences unfolds into manifestations of cultural similarities and differences between Greece and Turkey, the formula for a distinctive perfume composition is gradually revealed.

Georgia Tsismetzoglou – 5 Spoons 1 Knife

Κακό Μάτι, Nazar, Mal de Ojo, Malocchio, Böser Blick, Malica Okulo, Evil Eye, Mauvais œil, Mau-olhado, дурной глаз, 邪視, عين الحسود, چشم زخم. How can an ancient belief, like the one of the evil eye, create a common ground for a dialogue between different peoples and different generations?

Stratis Vogiatzis – Twins

Greek and Turkish coffeehouses are places, where there’s always something going on, yet at the same time, nothing really ever happens. It’s like repeating the same patterns, like living the same day over and over again. This repetition creates a kind of trance, which takes you to a timeless space, where, although things may seem familiar, it is more like they are revealed to you for the first time. The rhythm in the coffeehouses trains you to look at ordinary things as if you’re laying your eyes on them for the first time. I feel very lucky that I had a chance to engage myself in this timeless rhythm.

Hande Zerkin – I Missed the Bus

When I first came to Mytilene for the first time, I was impressed by the graffiti and writings on the walls. I didn’t speak Greek, but they were pretty spectacular. They made me feel as if they were crying out to be read, understood, recorded, and repeated. I couldn’t stop myself, and shot and recorded them all. Anyway, the street is the beginning of everything, isn’t it?
Riots, wars, lives…

Melisa Üneri – Faster Harder Stronger

“If you don’t act macho around here, you lose points”.

I was born and raised in Finland, where Turkish and Greek men are often identified with stereotypes such as “short tempered macho” and “dangerous ladies man”. With The North Aegean Narratives initiative, I wanted to take a peek into the minds of young men growing up in macho cultures. Rather than trying to question their behavior, I wanted to bring forth sincere feelings about sexual desire, cultural pressure and male identity. “Faster Harder Stronger” is a short documentary about fucking and fighting, and trying to live up to the expectations of being a man.

Deniz Şengenç – Eressos Romantica

Love is the evidence of our boundless existence.

Sibil Çekmen – Komşu Rokan Var mı?

I can never imagine the Aegean Region without its herbs. Can you?

“Komşu rokan var mı?” (“Neighbor, do you have Roka?”) is an attempt to write a small story with words, sentences, emotions and memories all collected on Lesvos island and at the coastal town Ayvalik across the sea. An attempt to ask people who never have met each other to investigate together the herbs which are familiar to their daily lives.

Dimitris Achlioptas – SLF-NAG

Seed control is an issue of growing importance not only for the consumers, but also for the producers. The current state of affairs endangers not only the public health but also the freedom of the people. Hence, there is an urgent need for innovative and radical means of reaction.

In our days it is the mass media which shapes the reality. Documentaries, on the other hand, often act as key instruments for deconstructing the ‘reality’ and unveil the truth behind. Therefore, documentaries should also be used to inform the public, challenge well-established views of reality and, subsequently, to turn the propaganda upside down.

Sena Başöz – Unbounded

“Unbounded” is a film about borders, and the quest for restraint over what is difficult to control. North Aegean Turkey and Greece share the same climate and suffer from similar forest fires. People can see the smoke coming from each other’s forest fires in spite of being separated by the border, the Aegean Sea, and the history of conflict between the two countries. In this short movie, people who had direct experience with fire talk about trying to restrain fire and anger.

K. Koukoulis – Radio Boarding Pass

Which side are you from? What language do you speak? What do you believe in? What’s the meaning of all this? The images are so similar; the sea, the nature, the men and their cultures; quite impossible to differentiate between. Two coasts are so close to each other that you can think of them as a single continuum. Yet, no! The borders are there to disrupt this perception. And we do have many borders, even if you don’t see them. But radio waves are not bounded by those borders. They cross the sea and reach the receievers on the other side. Radio is free to travel, we’re free to travel along with it.

Gözde Efe – Kopuk

As I travelled with the North Aegean Narratives team across the North Aegean from Ayvalık to Mytilene, four distinct perceptions settled into my mind. “The East Cost of the Aegean”, that is Ayvalık, where life simply goes on without any explicit awareness of the other side. And, “The West Cost of the Aegean”, that is Mytilene, where a similar indifference to the other side also resides. Third, there is the perception of “Opposite Sides of the Agean”, where people try to pursue meaningless claims against each other. But then, there is also “The Aegean”, a unique harmony and connectedness, which once had been lived and shared.

Giannis Adrimis – Souvenir de…

Today we can communicate from one part of the world to the other, immediately, without any difficulties. Yet, at the beginning of the last century, the most common way of communication was the postcard. With the help of three collectors from Mytilene and Smyrne, we see the Postcard not only as a photograph depicting a landscape or an event, but also as a historical and social document, since its back side usually conveys to us many different stories and situations.

It is important to contact the other side of the Aegean again, so, why not do it with a postcard?